When Smart cities turn menacing

What the report says

The Independent Uganda reports that Uganda’s rapid adoption of smart-city and digital-surveillance tools is raising concerns that systems promoted for public safety are also being used for control and revenue collection. The article, written by Wairagala Wakabi, says Uganda turned on the Automated Express Penalty System (EPSAuto) in June 2025. The system used CCTV cameras, automatic number plate recognition and an intelligent transport monitoring platform to issue traffic fines.

According to the piece, EPSAuto quickly drew public anger over duplicated or incorrect penalties, and over fines linked to road-user mistakes such as missing speed-limit signs. The backlash also revived wider questions about whether equipment installed for security and counterterrorism can be repurposed for other state uses. The system was suspended within days. The article adds that on October 6, Uganda’s Attorney General Sam Mayanja declared a 2021 contract tied to the transport-monitoring system and digital number plates legally void and unenforceable.

The report places Uganda within a broader African trend in which governments have expanded CCTV networks, facial recognition, vehicle tracking and related systems, often with Chinese technology firms involved in infrastructure development. It argues that such tools can create “function creep,” where technology introduced for safety becomes a means of monitoring activists, critics and opposition figures. The piece says procurement transparency and safeguards are important because the public often does not know what data is collected, who controls it, or how it may be used.